"It is our main purpose to deepen relations with Russia, which plays a leading role in the world arena," Badr Abdel Aty said

CAIRO, November 13, 4:20 /ITAR-TASS/. Egypt is open to cooperation with Russia in all fields and seeks to step it up, including that in the technical-military sphere, Badr Abdel Aty, spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of the Arab Republic, told Itar-Tass ahead of the first-ever talks between the Defence and Foreign Ministers of Russia and Egypt ("two plus two"). "It is our main purpose to deepen relations with Russia, which plays a leading role in the world arena," the spokesman said.

"We see that our striving finds a response from the Russian side, including that in the question of developing economic contacts, in politics and in the tourism sector. Security and technical military cooperation are no less important themes," the Egyptian diplomat pointed out. "These contacts have never stopped. One should not forget that a large part of the arsenals of our Armed Forces have been made up of Russian weapons, and we want to develop cooperation in this field, specifically in the training of specialists, technical servicing, and the deliveries of spare parts".

Following the revolutionary events in Egypt this year when after a wave of mass anti-government actions, the army outsted the Moslem Brotherhood and their leader, president Mohamed Morsy early in July, the prestige of Russia in Egypt rosehigh as never before. Russian President Vladimir Putin became as popular here as Defence Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi -- their portraits have been often side by side on posters and placards in Cairo and othe cities of the country. Many experts believe that the Egyptians highly apprecated Russia's suppot in the no-easy-to-Egyp political period.